Methodology
TechCarta is a cartographer, not a referee. It records what was claimed, by whom, when, and under which definition, and shows where claims disagree. It never labels a claim true or false.
The Carta
A Carta is one claim about one object at one as-of date. It records the value and unit, the source and its type, the source's own inclusion rule copied verbatim, how the figure was obtained, a link to the source and to a public archived copy of it, and how long the claim can be relied on before it should be re-checked.
TechCarta holds Cartas and the links between them. It does not host or republish the source documents: every Carta links to where its source published the claim.
Records are never edited. A correction is a new Carta that supersedes the old one, and both remain readable, so the atlas can show what was believed at any past date.
Evidence status
Each Carta shows the state of the evidence recorded for it. The status is worked out from the map each time the atlas is rebuilt, so it changes as other claims are recorded.
- Corroborated
- Another primary source, independent of this one, reports the same value for the same thing at about the same time.
- Single source
- One primary source makes the claim, and nothing recorded agrees or disagrees with it.
- Contested
- Another recorded claim about the same thing, under the same definition, reports a materially different value.
- Unverified
- The claim comes from a secondary source, such as a press article or tracker, and has not been traced to a primary source.
- Outdated
- The claim was corrected by a later Carta, or has passed its re-check date. It stays visible.
Evidence status describes the evidence, not whether the claim is correct. TechCarta never rules a claim true or false.
Re-check dates
Each family of measures has its own period, because a queue total ages faster than a national synthesis:
- funnel: 30 days
- generation queue stock: 30 days
- operating load: 30 days
- large load queue stock: 30 days
- outlook: 90 days
- equipment lead time: 90 days
- cost readiness: 90 days
- time: 90 days
- load forecast: 400 days
- data center electricity: 730 days
When claims conflict
Two claims are shown as a conflict when they describe the same object and measure in the same geography, their as-of dates are within 31 days of each other, and their values differ by more than 2 percent.
Some pairs are deliberately not conflicts. Successive reports from the same source are a time series. A press article repeating a primary figure is recorded as repeating it, not as a second, independent claim.
Each conflict is labelled either different definitions, when the sources state different inclusion rules, or disagreement, when the stated definitions match and the values still differ. Conflicting claims are never averaged.
Generation and load are kept apart
Requests to inject power into the grid and requests to draw power from it are different queues. No Carta combines them, and no figure on this site adds one to the other.
How figures are recorded
Figures are taken from the source document itself. Where a grid operator publishes tables only as images in slide decks, the table is read by optical character recognition at several resolutions; the readings must agree cell for cell and each column must add up to its printed total, or nothing is recorded. Sentences are copied from the document's text. Figures from reports and papers are transcribed by hand, with the page or table they come from. A person compares every value with the source before it is published.
Each Carta records a fingerprint of the exact file it was read from and links to a public copy in the Internet Archive. Where the archive holds the identical file, the Carta says so, so anyone can check the claim against the same document.
Apparent mistakes in a source, such as a date that does not match the report, are recorded in the Carta's notes as found. They are not corrected.
What is excluded
TechCarta publishes no capital-markets data: no valuations, funding rounds, equity, fund returns or company financials. The cost of physical inputs, such as equipment prices, grid upgrade costs and energy prices, is included, because it describes the constraint and not a company's finances. Where a figure mixes the two and cannot be separated with full provenance, it is left out.
Numbers on this site
Every figure shown links to its Carta, with its date, source and evidence status. Written text on this site does not state figures of its own.
Using and citing Cartas
Every Carta is free to read and cite. Each Carta page has a ready-to-copy citation and a download of that record. Cartas are TechCarta records, and using them requires citation. Sources belong to their publishers; TechCarta links to them and does not claim them.
Bulk copies of the collection are not published on this site.
What is kept when you search or give feedback
Searching happens in your browser. If nothing matches and you ask for a subject to be mapped, TechCarta keeps only the keywords taken from your search, whether they fall within the topics being mapped, and the time. It does not keep what you typed, your IP address or anything else that identifies you. A person reviews every request.
If you give feedback, TechCarta keeps your rating, your comment if you write one, the page you were on and the time.